President Barack Obama has signed a bill into law, the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act, which will once again make it legal to unlock cellphones following the bill’s unanimous approval by both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
President Obama has long been a supporter of the act, which was originally introduced through a “We the People” petition last year that gathered more than 100,000 signatures calling for cell phone unlocking to be made legal once again.
Unlocking cell phones became illegal in January of last year after an exception in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act expired, thus restricting customers in the United States from shifting their service to other carriers or using their mobile devices abroad with a local SIM card.
Now that it’s once again legal to unlock cell phones, consumers and third-party unlocking services will be able to unlock any cell phone or tablet that has been paid for without requiring express permission from carriers and without suffering criminal penalties.
These changes make it much easier for consumers to move their mobile devices from one carrier to another after they have fulfilled their contractual obligations. It will also be much easier to use existing devices while abroad.
In December of last year, cellular carriers in the United States reached an agreement with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over a set of voluntary principles that will make it easier for wireless customers to unlock their mobile devices and switch carriers.
Read more about the story at CNET.
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